Edge Street Strip Mall
by Shiba Ayame
Summary: The neighborhood flowergirl walks up the sidewalk to the new pizza shop a few doors down and gets what she ordered - and then some. Slight AU, Zeris, Closeph, onesided Cloti, crack. Complete.
1. Lunch for Two

Yay, here's my first contribution to the Zeris fandom. This fic is inspired by my current job- I work at a pizza place about a 20-minute walk from my house.  
Warning: Zeris, Closeph. AU (sorta), it'll be explained.

Ages: Zack, 22; Aeris, 17; Cloud, 16; Sephiroth, 30; Tifa, 16. (Yeah I know that Tifa is supposed to be a year younger than Cloud, go with me here.) Drinking age and driving age is 16.

Disclaimer: Dun own FFVII. Though I did beat it before my brother did... when I was in kindergarten... . (It helped me pass vocabulary tests for years! XD)

Edge Street Strip Mall Chapter One Lunch for Two

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Aeris hummed softly to herself, sitting alone in the back of her mother's shop. Ifalna, her blood mother, had been best friends and work partners with a woman named Elmyra since middle school, and the two had started a flower shop together. When Ifalna died of a "heart attack" at a suspicious age, Elmyra had taken her in, as per her mother's wishes. It was a decade since then- Aeris was now seventeen, legally old enough to get a lisence or go drinking at the local pub, even to leave her new mother's house. She'd been helping out at "Edge Street Florist" as long as she could remember, and started officially working at twelve. The extra pair of hands lifted weight from Elmyra, that was for sure, but in truth is was Aeris' natural talent for homegrowing and arranging flowers that had really put the business on the map.

"Aeris," her mother called from the register at the front of the shop, "it's lunchtime. Don't want you to pass out from exhaustion." She shook her hands off, wiping them on her mint green apron, strolling into the back room. "Maybe you could go to the new pizza place that just opened up on the other side of the strip mall," she suggested.

Aeris gave it a thought. "But it's the Shinra chain, and you know as well as I do that they have ties to the Turkish mob," the young brunette said, tucking a sprig of baby's breath next to a few roses in a clear crystal vase. "And last week it made Tifa sick."

"Tifa may be a strong girl," Elmyra reminded her, "but she works at a bar. With so many drunk and sick people who go through, her immune system is shot." She pulled a twenty-gil note from her pocket and handed it to the girl at the counter. "Bring me back a stromboli?"

Aeris smiled. When she was charged with a task, she always lived up to it. "Deal," she said, untying her apron and laying it down on the stool. Looks like she was going to have to try the place out.

oOoOoOo

The shop door opened with a soft 'ding' from the bell attached to the top of the doorframe, and the small sound had a black-haired man in the back look up. It was his turn to man the register- being Wednesday, business was rather sluggish and there were only three people in the shop- himself, the delivery boy, and the branch manager. Said branch manager, an older man by the name of Angeal, was asleep in the office at the back of the shop, and the young delivery boy (a scrawny teen named Cloud) was probably playing his gameboy in a corner somewhere in the place.

Zack tucked another pizza into the oven, turning another, and pulling one out before reaching the front counter. The girl standing there was beatiful, to say the least. He'd never known that a pristine, pretty thing could survive in this section of the city. "What can I getcha?" he asked, leaning on the counter, grabbing a pen and a tablet to jot down her order.

"Can I have a small stromboli and a caesar salad, please?" Aeris asked, placing her mother's paper money on the counter. He gave her just enough change and turned to the back of the shop to shove the paper in the overhead holder, noting the 'clink' of the girl putting her change - all five gil, whereas people would normally only take one - into the tip jar on the laminated counter.

The spiky-haired man turned back to the direction of the counter. "That'll be about a half an hour, we're actually pretty busy today," he lied through his teeth. This girl was damn gorgeous - and even in his area uptown there wasn't anybody like her. He deserved a little eye candy every now and then, didn't he?

"Okay," was her sweet reply, finding a seat for herself in a nearby booth. The brunette wassoftly humming to herself once again for at least another five minutes before she heard the man from behind the counter pipe up.

"You're a rarity," he concluded aloud, "A sweet girl, downtown? What twist of life threw you down here?"

"I don't know," she said, "but whoever put me here, they had their reasons." She nodded, her answer satisfied her enough, though leaving it rather ambiguous.  
Zack knitted his eyebrows. This girl was... different. The girls who were already regulars here at his branch of Shin Ra Pizza were young, skanky, standoffish, blunt and rather stupid, but this girl was a welcome change."What's your name?'

"Aeris." she said, flicking her bangs out of her eyes - a sea-colored combination of green and blue. "I work at the flower shop, just on the other side of the strip mall."

"Damn, you just keep on breaking yourself further and further out of the mold, don't you?" Zack shook his head, setting a timer next to the oven to go off in twelve minutes, and lifting a section of counter to step over to Aeris' booth. He sat, quasi-ungracefully, on the slate-colored pleather. "I didn't even know you could get flowers shipped into Midgar. Yours must be the only shop in the city."

"There's another one, way uptown for all the hoi palloi, but Gaisborough Gardens services everyone else, all the people who can't afford caviar prices." She smiled. "And we don't ship them in, it's far too expensive. All our stuff is home-grown, all organically."

"I've come to a conclusion," Zack declared, "you've got to be an alien, or brainwashed, or something! You just ain't natural!" He watched the girl giggle. Score one for Zack.

The timer went off with an unpleasant chirp, and Zack was wrenched from his confortable seat to pull the stromboli from the oven. He eased it into its proper box, with a container of marinara sauce for dipping if it was so needed. He grabbed a sheet of coupons from next to the register, flipping it over and scribbling on the back before taping it to the inside of the stromboli box. Placing her caesar salad on top of the package, he handed it to her over the counter. "Have a nice day," he chimed, "and if I need flowers soon, I'll take a run down to your shop."

"You too, thanks," she responded, using a free hand to brush off her clean blue-and-white dress. Thank god the trip back to the flower shop was short - the sky was darkening itself to an unwelcome grey, signaling rain. As much as Aeris loved nature, she couldn't stand being cold and wet.

"One stromboli," Aeris said, pulling the cardboard box out from under her salad and handing it to her mother. She pulled a desk drawer open and fished out a disposable plastic fork for herself and sat down at her station, peeling the cover off.

Elmyra smiled. "Oh, well this is definitely some customer service," she commented, getting Aeris' attention. "Not only do we get coupons, but they write us notes, too!" She pulled the paper sheet from the inside of the box and dashed to a spot in the shop where she knew Aeris wouldn't be able to snatch the slip of paper from her. "Aeris," she read loudly, "You're definitely something I've never seen here in Midgar before..."

"Mom, give it here!" Aeris said, blushing rather furiously. "I didn't even know it was there!"

Elmyra held it far over her head, continuing her concert of the coupon letter. "...and I'd love to do lunch with you sometime. Zack." She flipped the note a little sideways. "And he left you his number!"

Aeris pulled back her assault. "His number?"

"I can't let you go anywhere without some unknown guy hitting on you! Goodness, Miss Gainsborough, you'll have a boyfriend in no time!"

"Mom!" Aeris breathed. Sure, the pizza-maker had looks. And hell, he had charm, and not the 'come hither little girl' charm but rather the 'I'll take you out for a night on the town' charm. "He's not bad," she mumbled.

"But you were the one complaining about how the Shin Ra chain has ties to the Turks-"

"Not all of the employees would know that," Aeris said, not knowing why she was getting defensive. "Besides, I don't even know if I'll respond. I might not even go back there."

Elmyra snorted. "Of course you're responding! You write a note, and I'll drop off some flowers tomorrow. At my expense, of course," she said, standing in front of a chart of different arrangements of flowers. "I think this one'll match their decor nicely, after all, white does seem to go with everything."

"Mom..."

"No 'mom', missy! From what you say, and from what I can tell - oh, don't even think you can hide that, I've been in love before! - this guy can't be a bad match. How does Friday sound?"

"Mom, it's two days."

"So? You know how fast I can sew!"

Aeris poked her mother in the side. "Mom, I'll just wear one of my normal dresses. Going to lunch with the local pizza guy doesn't contitute a cocktail dress."

Elmyra pointed to a flower arrangement on her wall chart. "This one'll do," she mumbled, grabbing a vase from a shelf. "Don't just stand there, eat your lunch and write out that note! You've got a date to set up!"

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I'm actually loving this fic. And I can throw in random yaoi bits of I so choose... (Huzzah for a canon couple with a far-from-canon couple in the background!) Next chapter will be either the next day (which would happen to be a Thursday) or their date. Probably the next day.

Ja ne! Kitteh ../" 


	2. Dilemmas

Second chappie... two chapters in one day. I've got two more serious Zeris ideas on the back burner right now, so the quicker I get through this little plot, the quicker I can start those.

Reminder: Zack is 22, Aeris is 17 (which isn't considered pedophilia, people! 16, as I have said, is legal in Midgar!), Cloud is 16 and so is Tifa, and Sephy is the big 3-0.

Disclaimer: If you're reading this chapter, you read it the first time. I don't own FFVII. Not earning anything from this, either.

Edge Street Strip Mall Chapter Two Dillemmas

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All day on Thursday, Aeris couldn't sit still in the shop. The rest of the strip mall was quiet, but the shop was crazy - at least to Aeris. Her mother was driving her nuts with her constant suggestions on what to wear (it got annoying after her eighth idea), there was a rather large funeral tomorrow and the arrangements were huge, and with the handsome black-haired boy being only thirty yards away, Aeris couldn't keep her thoughts straight.

"Aeris," Elmyra stirred her from her reverie - the fifteenth time that day, her mother was counting - "That should be blue, not green."

"Sorry"  
Her mother only smiled. "You know," she pulled her stool next to her daughter's, "I was worse than you when I went on my first date."

Aeris sighed. "If it's possible."

"It is," her mother reassured, "and trust me, I paced so many times my mother thought I was going to wear a rut into the floor. It rained that night, and we ended up watching a movie in the living room with my parents."

"Ouch." Aeris shuddered. "I don't know too much about the dating scene, but that has to be bad."

oOoOoOo

"Mom, this isn't too short, is it?"

"Way too short for a first date," her mother concluded. Aeris threw the dress back into her closet, with Tifa pulling out the next one. The older one held it to her chest, shaking her head.

"Tifa, why did you get me this dress again? It shows too much!"

The other girl huffed in protest. "I outgrew that dress two years ago!"

Aeris dove back into her closet, mumbling "No, no, no, hideous print, definitely not, that's funeral wear... not a color I look good in..." and tossing them to the bedroom floor behind her.

"What about this one?" Elmyra held up a long pink spaghetti-strapped tank dress, buttons down the front. "I've never seen you wear this."

Aeris turned, laughing nervously to herself. "That's because... well... I kind of..."

"Bought it without permission," Tifa finished for her. "I was with her, she used tip money and five gil we found on the sidewalk. Don't worry, it's not too revealing," the young bartender reassured her best friend's mother. "It's not something I would wear."

Elmyra gave a sigh of relief. "Thank heaven," she waved her hand at her daughter. "Go ahead, try it on! I want to see if it looks good on you!"

The brunette turned around, slipping her current dress over her head, and buttoning the pink number up, leaving it unbuttoned from the knee down. "How do I look?"

Her mother sighed, and Tifa gaped. "You got that dress almost a year ago, but you fit it better now."

"I never would've thought to put you in pink," her mother commented, "All that white, it was almost abnormal to have you in that color."

Aeris looked herself in the mirror, sliding on a pair of comfortable secondhand brown boots, and Tifa handing her a red denim bolero with silver edges on the sleeves. "What?" Tifa mumbled, "I can't get the damn thing buttoned up anymore! I was gonna see how it looked on you anyway."

"It complements your hair," Elmyra said, approving.

"Damn, girl, I'll be suprised if he doesn't jump you!" Tifa surmised, earning a deathglare and a simultaneous 'Watch your mouth!' from both mother and daughter.

oOoOoOo

"And would you care to tell me why you want to borrow my good cologne?" Angeal asked incredulously, eying Zack warily. "You only wear it for Christmas and for - god, Zack, I told you that you can't sleep with every girl you meet!" The elder almost threw himself into one of their kitchen chairs, bringing a can of beer to his mouth. "No, you can't just borrow my cologne for sex."

"Angeal," Zack whined, "it's not for sex, I swear! I'm going on a date with this really beautiful girl-"

"Yeah, haven't heard that one before," the older man muttered, returning to his sactuary-in-a-can.

"And she's a florist, too." Zack smiled as Angeal almost spit out his beer. "Yeah, I know. She works in the flower shop in the same strip mall as us. And trust me, she's not like the... girls-"

"Sluts," Angeal interjected.

"Girls," Zack stated again, "that I usually date."

"You mean, 'knock boots with.'"

Zack huffed. "You're incorigable."

Angeal snorted into his can. "Holy crap, we need to report this to the main office uptown - Zachary Fair now knows a big word!"

"Oh, shut up."

The man finished off his can, pulling the tab off and tossing it into a plastic cup on their counter, chucking his can into their recycling bin. "Alright."

"Yes!" Zack exclaimed, fist thrusting upward into the air, darting upstairs to Angeal's bedroom to get the bottle of musk that the ladies loved. "Oh, and can you get me a can, while you're up?"

Angeal sighed. "And you say I'm incorigable."

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Can you tell I'm rather fond of shorter chapters? I spent more time on the girls, thinking that it would be more appropriate to do. Girls tend to freak out about a date more than guys do, how right am I? Personal experience. I still spazz out right before a date. Hell, I get antsy if he's more than three minutes late .

Ja ne! Kitteh ../" 


	3. Waiting and NotsoSecret Secrets Shared

Consider you guys lucky. I started this fic when I got to work, which was three hours ago. Now I have an hour of smooth sailing before my shift ends, and I'll probably finish this chapter by then. Hell, I might even finish the fic within a few days.

Warnings: If you read the first two chapters, then you should know. If you don't, go back and read.

Disclaimer: Ok, rub it in my face, I don't own FFVII. If I did, I'd be filty rich and bathing in cash. Though I'm not too sure it's good for actually cleaning anything off you...

Edge Street Strip Mall Chapter Three Waiting and Not-so-Secret Secrets Shared

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It seemed that Aeris checked the clock in the back of Gainsborough Gardens every minute, on the minute that particular Friday. 10:18, it read. "Ugh." she grunted, letting her head drop to the surface of the arrangement counter. Exactly an hour and forty-two minutes to go.

An hour and forty-two - wait, now it's just an hour and forty-one! - of absolute hell.

"Oh no, Aeris, don't get yourself stressed out about some boy!" she told herself, her attention briefly returning to the centerpiece she was putting together and attacking it with renewed vigor.

oOoOoOo

"Just an hour and a half," Angeal teased the pizza boy from his seat in the office. The boy was nervous - this should be caught on film! Zack Fair was never, ever nervous about a date.

"Shut up, Angeal," Zack yelled to the back of their shop. "Come on, Zackie boy!" he revved himself up. "Zack Fair is never, ever nervous about a date!" And yet he found himself eyeing up the clock again. An hour and a half until lunch break. Why couldn't noon just hurry up and show? "Well, I guess until now..."

oOoOoOo

"Aeris, I need help in the refrigerator!" called her mother from farther back in the shop than where the girl was. Said girl stood, brushed herself off and rushed to the flower fridge in the back.

"Geez, Mom, you could've told me that there was an entire tray about to fall on top of you!" Aeris said, sinking into a chair, exasperated.

"Well, I just didn't want you to panic. You're doing enough of that already." Emlyra winked at her daughter, who promptly reached behind her, grabbed a pair of scissors and darted after her mother.

"I'm not panicking! I'm just... freaking out."

oOoOoOo

"You seem restless," a boy, not a day older than sixteen, said to Zack as he muched on a slice of pizza.

Zack picked his head up from leaning over the back of his chair and against a wall. "Way to stay on top of things, Captain Obvious."

"At least you didn't call me 'chocobo head'," the spiky-haired blond said, taking in another mouthful of that age-old combination of dough, sauce and cheese. "She important?"

"Wha?" Zack asked, honestly spacing out now. "How'd you know?"

Said boy-cum-chocobo gave a little smirk. "I've been... seeing a girl."

Zack was gaping. "News to me! How long? And why haven't I been told?"

Cloud looked at the floor, the tiling suddenly extremely captivating. "A long time, like five years or so... and it was before I got hired, so I saw no point in sharing."

Zack gave a "Pfft" and pressed further. "What's her name?"

"Tifa Lockheart."

"Tifa?" Zack asked, jaw on his lap. "THE Tifa? The one with the huge-"

"Yeah." Cloud finished for him, blushing as red as the sauce on his slice.

"Daaaaaaaamn. Nice catch."

"Zack!"

"What? Just because I"m thinking about going on a diet doesn't mean I can ogle over the menu."

Cloud smirked again. "Debating going steady?"

"She isn't remotely like any of the other girls-"

"Skanks," Cloud substituted.

"Oh, not you too... But no, she's a whole 'nother thing coming. She's the type of girl I could see myself... you know, settling down with." Zack stared at the cieling. He couldn't believe that he had just admitted that.

"Tifa's the same way," Cloud told him. "She's been head over heels for me for heaven knows how long, and believe me when I say that it would be a... mutual relationship, though not in the traditional sense." Cloud took a breath. "She loves me, I love kids. I've always wanted a son, and she can give me that."

Zack prodded further. "But...?"

"But I kinda fell in love with someone else. The only issue is that they can't give me a son." Cloud sighed. "I'm gay."

Zack hooted, stomping a foot on the ground. "Yet again, we thank you for your reiteration, Captain Obvious! Now that that cat's out of the bag, who's the lucky guy?"

Cloud bent over, collecting his jaw from the floor. "You knew?"

Zack snorted. "Whoever it is, you're not very quiet. Keep it down the next time you do the nasty in the bathroom. It echoes in there." The raven-haired man winked. "I won't tell Angeal."

Cloud. sighed in relief. "It's Sephiroth."

This time it was Zack picking his lower face off of the floor. Doing the math in his head, "That's a fourteen-year age difference!"

Cloud crossed his arms indignantly. "I'm of legal age, I can do whatever I want."

The back room was quet for an excruciatingly long moment, the akwardness so thick you could make pizza dough from it.

"So, I take it he's on top?"

"Zack!"

"What?"

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Huzzah for comic relief. As if nobody could tell that Cloud was never really into Tifa... I'm a Closeph fan anyway, and I'm far too busy with this pairing to make a separate fic for those guys. Thusly, a side couple. Maybe they'll double-date?

And for everyone who hasn't noticed, it's not entirely AU. There's, like, a gazillion parallels to the actual game (cept Shinra's a pizza chain monopolizing their business and the Turks are the Turkish mafia... XD)

Ja ne! Kitteh ../" 


	4. Quarter to Twelve

Mmkay. So I started typing out this chapter, and apparently my laptop has short-term memory because it didn't save when I closed out of it to open another program. Yay.

Disclaimer: If you haven't caught on to this concept already, I don't own FFVII.

Edge Street Strip Mall Chapter Four Quarter to Twelve

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"Aeris?"

No response.  
"Aeris!"

The brunette at the back of the shop shook her head, dazed. "Wha?"

"Fifteen minutes until noon!" Elmyra called from the front counter, cheerfully dismissing a customer with a "Have a nice day!" before wiping her hands on her apron and taping a sign to the door, reading 'Out to lunch, be back at 1:00.'

Aeris' eyes wandered to her wristwatch, then to the wall clock - sure enough, both were right on time, and both read 11:45. The sigifigance of the time of day finally smacking her in the face, the young brunette sprung to her feet, suddenly feeling at a loss.

Her mother, walking through the doorway to the back room, smiled. "Well, don't just stand there!" she chided, "Fix your hair, go wash up and for God's sakes, take off your apron!" She reached around her waist, undoing the knot in the back, pulling the dirtied white scrap off of the girl. Elmyra spun her around and pushed her in the direction of the bathroom. "Go!"

Aeris rushed into the bathroom, pulling the hair tie out of her hair to redo her ponytail, brushing it and making sure that there weren't any fly-aways sticking out the sides. Once it was refastened, her mother brushed past her with a bottle of rose water and gave it a spritz over the girl. "For good luck," she said.

By the time Aeris had walked out of the bathroom, dusting her dress off, it was about two minutes to noon, and she figured there would be no harm in being early. After all, to be early was to be on time, and to be on time was to be late...

"Aeris!"

"Huh?" she asked, spinning around to face her mother, who just so happened to be touting a scrap of red coudoroy.

"Don't forget your jacket. The sun damage is hell in the summer, you know that!"

Aeris smiled. "Yeah." She shrugged the soft material over her shoulders. "Thanks, Mom."

oOoOoOo

"Lucky me, I get to make the pizzas for the lunchtime rush," Cloud murmured sarcastically, pounding a ball of ivory-tinted dough flat with his fist. Sure, Zack had taught him how to make pizza, but he was as much of a newcomer to the comcept of cooking as he was to the Shinra chain.

Zack ruffled his hair. "Experience is the best teacher, kid, keep that in mind," and glanced at the clock just above the pizza oven on the eastern wall of the shop. "Fifteen minutes until my date," he concluded.

Cloud huffed, "As if nobody could tell that it wasn't a date day, that cologne has distracted anything that shops on the 'male' side of the aisle standing at that counter all morning."

Zack smirked. "Oh, so would you even admit to it?"

The blonde threw a wet paper towel at his big brother figure. "Like I would ever go for you."

"Uh huh," the black-haired man retorted, "And yet you're bumping uglies with the District Manager."

The office door creaked open next to the dish-washing station in the far corner of the opposite wall, Angeal walking out and saying something about walking down to the drugstore a few doors down. "I don't need to know who our delivery boy is getting his freak on with, I think I'll go die a tortured death now."

Instead of having the shocked effect the older man had hoped for, Zack snorted. "I can't believe that Angeal just said something sex-related with a straight face!"

Cloud gave up on beating the puff of pizza dough flat. "I can't believe that he just issued a suicide threat in reference to my love life."

"So you admit you're in love with him!" Zack pointed his finger at the chocobo-likened boy, as if he were mimicking the newest Phoenix Wright game he'd just gotten the week before.  
Said young boy flushed, smashing his head into the pile of dough and successfully flattening it to the size of a personal pizza.

"Zack, you're officially late," Angeal called from the front door of the shop, holding it open as the other rushed out the door, dumping his apron on the elder's head and speeding down the sidewalk of the Edge Street Strip Mall, headed to the Gainsborough Gardens shop to pick Aeris up-  
Not even realizing it, his face crashed into a pane of glass, which was attatched to the structure of a door, which was held to the doorframe on the front wall of the flower shop. Aeris gave a stunned gasp, rushing to where Zack had fallen back unceremoniously on the concrete, asking if he was all right.

He shook his head, flexed his shoulders and poked his nose to make sure it wasn't broken. "No blood, no foul," Zack chimed, Aeris pulling him back to his feet with a smile.

"Where to?" the girl asked, taking note of the fact that Zack was holding a bag full of take-out containers. Looks like they weren't really going out for lunch.

"We're going to have a picnic," he said, taking her wrist with his free hand and pulling her south on Edge Street, turning left into a nearby schoolyard, leading the way to the elementry school's playground. "This way, we could go on the swings, our climb around the monkey bars, or anything at all."

Aeris giggled, a plot slowly forming in her head. "So," she started slowly, waiting for him to put down the bag of food.

"Race you to the slide!"

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I think that this fic is turning out pretty well, considering it's coming in short bursts. It's only halfway modeled after the first date in CC.

The pretty little purple button is calling you... 


	5. Past, Present, Future

Going good I'm planning on having this fic finished pretty soon, 'cause I need to do costumes for Otakon. Oh my -.-;

Disclaimer: Oh come on, do you really think I still have to type one? .

Warning: Time skips, and some Kingdom Hearts references XD

I've gotten reviews asking for me to keep writing - this chapter is the last, that's why it's marked 'complete'. I might write an epilogue at a much later date.

Edge Street Strip Mall

Chapter Five

Past, Present, Future

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One date turned into two, two turned into four. They had started eating lunch together every day - Aeris was glad that she had a powerful metabolism, else she would've gained a few from eating pizza shop fare all week.

It turned out that Aeris had met Cloud once before, at a family party at Tifa's house, above her bar six blocks away, in Sector 7 of the city. The two became rather fast friends, and Cloud was shocked to find that Aeris was a year older that him. She giggled, and replied, "You look every bit your sixteen," and ruffled his hair, at which he scowled.

The flower shop girl had become a regular at this branch of Shin Ra Pizza, and even the District Manager had come to know her name and face. (The DM himself had also, at Zack's discretion, found a way to quiet the delivery boy while they were "using the facilities".) Cloud had also started up a part-time shift at Gainsborough Gardens, delivering flowers. With another branch of the pizza shops opening up the next sector over, delivery rates went down, and Cloud needed the extra pay for a new motorcycle.

Zack was a regular for dinner at Elmyra's house, quickly falling in love with her meat loaf recipe. He and Aeris would let their dinner settle and watch movies on the living room TV, curled up together, comlpetely content.

Of course, it wasn't a suprise to anyone at all when Elmyra had gone with Aeris to lunch just a few doors down, she often did. Once a week she would indulge herself in that stromboli that she loved that Zack made so well - the two were constantly complimenting the other's cooking. And nobody was suprised when he left Cloud to make sure the pizza wouldn't burn, removing his sauce-stained apron and coming out to the booth of the place where Aeris and Elmyra sat. Nobody batted an eyelash when Zack gave Aeris that loving look, the brunette reutrning it with an angelic smile.

But it did suprise her when Elmyra stopped talking altogether and turned her head to Zack and nodded. He smirked - that trademark smirk that meant he was up to something. He moved to stand in front of the booth, not leaning on the table like he usually would.

"Aeris," he started, "I think I knew I loved you the moment you walked up to the counter and ordered lunch for you and your mom." She smiled. "And even though it's been four years - You're twenty-one now, and I'm coming up on twenty-seven - I haven't stopped loving you for a second. The way you smile, the way you laugh, the way you smell like the flowers you're always around - I love every bit of it." He grinned, hearing her gasp as he slid down onto one knee, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a box - the little black velvet box she'd been dreaming of her whole life. "Aeris Gainsborough," he said, flipping the top of it open, "Will you mar-"

"Yes," she said, hurriedly, not even letting him finish. She'd been told that there wouldn't be anything greater than hearing those four words, she'd heard it from both of her mothers, but they couldn't even begin to tell. She could only let him get through two and a half before she'd hugged him.

Elmyra touched a nearby napkin to her eyes, in lieu of a tissue. Cloud cheered the two on from the back, almost too late in realizing that a pizza was about to burn. Angeal crossed his arms, returning to his office.

The door opened with a clang from the bell in the doorframe, and a busty brunette strolled in, a confued look on her face. "What's up down here?" Tifa asked, perplexed. "I thought I'd have lunch with you two today," Obviously, she was speaking about Aeris and Elmyra.

Aeris stood, allowing her new finace to breathe after an extended hug and kiss. "Well," she said, "I- we- Oh screw it," she finally decided, thrusting her hand out to the younger girl, contorting her fingers to make the ring on her finger sparkle and shine. "Zack proposed."

Tifa's eyes widened, inspecting the rock on Aeris' finger. "Well I'll be damned, he finally worked up the nerve!" She slid into the booth next to Elmyra, pulling out a menu. "Well, I walked here for lunch, and I'm getting lunch. We can talk weddings over food."

oOoOoOo

"Hold still!"

"I can't hold still if I'm getting my shoes on AND holding up the dress at the same time, you know!"

"Wait for it... wait for it... there! Perfect," Tifa muttered, standing back to look at her handiwork. The silver rhinestone pin holding the taffeta veil onto Aeris' head was finally straight. Her makeup was perfect - a little mascara here, some lipgloss there, just a tad of sparkle around the eyes - and her hair was impeccable, done up in a round bun. The dress, which Tifa and Elmyra sew themselves (refusing to let Aeris work on it, saying "Every stitch the bride sews is a tear shed!" But it was just superstition) was a pale pink, almost white but not quite. The shade complimented her complexion perfectly.

"Ready?" her mother asked, knowing full well that there was no turning back now - her little girl, although not completely hers, had grown up and was leaving the nest. They even had their own apartment and everything...

Aeris nodded. "All set." So Elmyra was escorted down the aisle of the old church by Angeal, being the "parents" of the bride and groom. Best man and maid of honor - Cloud and Tifa, of course - were next, Tifa looking great in an ankle-length rosy-tinted halter, and Cloud in his suit and coordinating pink tie. Zack, all the way at the other end of the church, next to the altar, stood tall in the dress uniform he'd been issued from the Army Reserves - all white, and all perfectly kept.

The last one to come down the center of the pews, of course, was Aeris, with Sephiroth on her arm to "give her away". In lieu of a father, she'd chosen a good friend to both halves of the couple. Regradless of how beautiful she was on a day-to-day basis, she seemed to top it now, to the point where Rude even had to remove his sunglasses.

The minister called everyone's attention to the couple at the front, Zack and Aeris holding hands. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered her today to witness the binding of good friends Zack and Aeris in holy matrimony..."

Most of the ceremony was, of course, uneventful, but everyone knew what points they had to actually pay attention at, like the vows and the unity candle and all that fun stuff. Half of the Turkish mafia had probably fallen asleep less than ten minutes into the ordeal, but nudged each other back awake, whispering "It's almost over!"

Once again, the minister raised his hands and offered a blessing to the couple. "Do you, Zachary Fair, take Aeris to be your lawfully wedded wife, to love and to hold, to cherish above yourself, in sickness and in health, so long as you may live?"

Zack gave his usual smirk. "I do."

The minister turned to Aeris and repeated the phrase, names swapped. "I do," she said, smiling.

"Then by the power invested in me by the city of Midgar, I now pronounce you man and wife, you may kiss the bride."

Aeris leaned up, Zack tilted his head down, and their lips met for a peck. More would come later, that was for sure. "May I now present to you Mr. and Mrs. Zack and Aeris Fair!"

The crowd clapped, a choice redheaded Turk mobster gave a whistle, and the two headed out the back doors of the church, everyone else there in tow.

The rest is history, crammed into scrapbooks and the like - Sephiroth caught the garter, while Aeris "threw like a girl" and missed her bridesmaids completely, the bouquet landing in the grasp of Cloud. The bridesmaids sighed, they knew it wouldn't get tossed again, and had to sit back while the silver-haired hunk slip the lacy scrap of blue and white up Cloud's leg in front of something like a hundred people.

The two danced their first dance as husband and wife to "Have I Told You Lately" by Rod Stewart, ensued by much "Awwww"-ing and sniffles. Everyone had a great time, and some people didn't leave the reception until midnight - considering that it started at five. On their way out, they offered advice to the new couple, wished them good luck and happiness together, and some even told them how much they wished for anklebiters within the next couple of years.

It was a night not easily forgotten, the first step towards a new life together.

oOoOoOo

"And they lived happily ever after," Aeris concluded, closing the padded white scrapbook with "Our Wedding" scrawled across the front in elegant script. Their twin sons, Sora and Roxas, smiled and cuddled, together in the large bed in the master bedroom with their parents. Sora had already fallen asleep; Roxas now stared, eyelids heavy, at his parents exchanging small kisses and "I love you"s.

"That was a good bedtime story," the four-year-old blonde noted, looking at his brunette twin. "Shhh, he's asleep," he said, index finger over his lips, allowing his mother to pick him up and travel down the hall to the twins' room. Zack followed not far behind with Sora, putting the two into the double bed the comfortably shared."Goodnight, Mommy," he said as Aeris kissed him on the forehead.

"Good night, Roxy," Zack said, leaning down to offer another goodnight kiss as his wife kissed the other twin in his sleep. "How about a magic kiss?" He smiled at the tired, confused look on Roxas' face, and explained, "My dad did this with me a long time ago. I kiss you goodnight on the forehead, and you close your eyes, and don't open them until you fall asleep." The child, too tired to protest or complain about how he can't open his eyes if he was asleep, nodded. His father kissed his forehead, much in the same spot his mother had kissed only a minute before, and stepped back, grasping his wife's hand as they both whispered goodnight to their sons, leaving the room and closing the door behind them.

Climbing into bed, Zack laid on his back, Aeris cuddling up to him on her side, resting her head on his chest. A few minutes passed, and she gave a thoughtful sigh.

"Anything wrong?" Zack asked, knowing full well that his wife only did that when she was deep in thought.

"No," she said, "I was just thinking about how we were when we met. I didn't even know your name until you wrote down your number and taped it to the stromboli box." She smiled, absentmindedly tracing random swirls on his bare chest. "I can't believe they're four already."

Zack laughed. "I can't believe how cute they are. Well, they'd have to be, being our kids and all... but Roxas is like you, in four-year-old boy form."

"And Sora's like you, with my haircolor... but I swear he gets the 'unruly' gene from you."

The couple shared a giggle, and some tickling and 'Oh come on, stop it!' later, the two settled down. Zack started to hum a tune, Aeris picking up on it immediately and singing the lyrics softly.

"Oh I love you more today than yesterday, but not as much as tomorrow..."

His free arm reached out and pulled on the lamp cord, extracting all light from the room. "Goodnight, Aeris."

"Goodnight, Zack."

lolololololololol

Mmkay, I know it was a kinda cheezy ending, and a lot of people might not appreciate the fact that they gave birth to Sora and Roxas, but here's what I have to say to that: MEH. My fic, my rules.

Notes:

Wedding gown - It's an old wedding tradition, saying that the bride isn't allowed to sew her own dress. "Every stitch the bride sews is another tear shed in sorrow."

The wedding - I tried to make it as much like a traditional wedding as opposed to the pagan weddings I'm used to. XD

"Have I Told You Lately" - I love this song, it's definitely gonna be played at my wedding, but I don't know if I want it to be the first dance. lol

Magic kiss - something my dad used to do- it helped me fall asleep faster because when your eyes are closed, there's less action in your brain.

Aeris' singing - I love that song, and most of you should know how it goes. I didn't wanna put in the "Da dad da da da" of BAND in the middle of the phrase, so you can just imagine Zack doing that.

Review!


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